Calling all fans of the FIFA Club World Cup! The FIFA council has officially announced a major revamp of the tournament for 2025. These new key changes are predicted to have a global impact on the popularity of the competition, as well as greatly affect the clubs competing. Here’s a breakdown of everything you can expect for the upcoming United States 2025 FIFA Club World Cup:

1. New 32-Team Format

The original 7-team format has been expanded to host a whopping 32 clubs to compete for the winning title. This is exciting news for fans who can look forward to cheering on even more of their favourite teams. A total of 12 European clubs are now included, which will ultimately increase overall popularity and competitiveness of the tournament for fans and players alike.

2. New Club Rankings & Qualifications

The tournament will also have new qualification rules that follow the same format as the World Cup. There will be eight groups of four, with the top two teams from every group going through to the knockout stages. Here’s a breakdown of the allocated spots for the revamp:

• UEFA will be allocated 12 spots, which will include the UEFA Champions League winners between 2020-21 and 2023-24, along with eight other teams that will be chosen based on ranking.
• CONMEBOL will be allocated six spots, which will include the Copa Libertadores winners between 2021 and 2024, along with two other teams that will be chosen based on club ranking.
• Concacaf will be allocated four spots to include the Concacaf Champions League winners between 2021 and 2024.
• AFC will be allocated four spots, including the AFC Champions League winners between 2021 and 2024.
• CAF will be allocated four spots, which will include the CAF Champions League winners between 2021 and 2024.
• OFC will be allocated one spot, which will be given to the highest-ranked club among the OFC Champions League winners between 2021 and 2024.

3. New Tournament Schedule

This new revamp also means changes have been made to the schedule for the FIFA Club World Cup. Going forward, the competition will take place every four years, lasting an entire month (from mid-June to mid-July). This expansion will also replace the FIFA Confederations Cup, which concluded in 2017.

Now that you’re all caught up on the big changes coming to the FIFA Club World Cup, what do you think of the revamp? Will the expansion result in more opportunities for clubs worldwide? Could the new format transform the tournament into a ‘mini Champions League’? We’re very excited to see what happens in 2025!